UConn sports

Sorry for having some fun with the headline.

UConn guard Jerome Dyson did not tear anything that we know of.

He did do quite a split on the XL Center floor, flop around in pain for a bit, limp off and look kind of shaky on the bench. But Dyson returned and scored a team-high 22 points as UConn throttled BU 92-64.

“I was going by him and I slipped and kind of just did the splits,” Dyson explained later.

Coach Jim Calhoun said UConn trainer James Doran indicated that Dyson didn’t do any serious damage and theorized that putting him back in the game wouldn’t do any harm.

“James thought it would be best that I put him back in because we’re not going to have them (Thursday). Might as well get him some work. He’ll be stiff (Thursday) and he’ll probably be off (Thursday), Friday and hopefully by Saturday be back at practice to get ready for Sunday’s game,” Calhoun said.

– Stanley Robinson had 16 points and 9 rebounds; Kemba Walker 15 points and 10 assists; and Gavin Edwards 12 points and nine rebounds for the Huskies.

– It had trouble on the backboards in many games earlier this season (like last week, for instance) but UConn dominated the glass Wednesday. The Huskies had 54 rebounds and the Terriers 29.

“UConn is a physical team and they wear you down,” said BU coach Patrick Chambers, a former Villanova assistant in his first season with the Terriers. “That’s what they did tonight.”

– Overall, Calhoun was pleased.

“The stat sheet starts to look a little more normal for us, starting with the rebound stats,” Calhoun said.

– A few quick words of evaluation from Calhoun:

“Gavin was terrific. Jerome was sensational. Stanley had a good second half. Kemba played well,” he said.

– G Donnell Beverly?

“When the team is running well, Donnell just fits in perfectly and makes us do all the right things,” Calhoun said.

– F Jamal Coombs-McDaniel?

“Jamal Coombs didn’t play defense but gave us a spark offensively,” Calhoun said.

– G Darius Smith?

“Darius’ defense was excellent. He picked up his guy full court and he can really help that way,” Calhoun said. “But he’s got to be more of an offensive factor for us.”

- Neill

UConn up 52-34 on Boston University at the break.

A silly foul by BU’s B.J. Bailey at the halftime buzzer gave UConn’s Kemba Walker three from the line with no time left on the clock. After checking the TV replays the game’s officials put 0.2 seconds back on the clock and (after BU was recalled from the visitors locker room, there by extending the longest half of basketball in history) Walker made all three.

Walker (12 points), Jerome Dyson (13 points) and Gavin Edwards (10 points) are doing the heavy lifting for the Huskies.

Dyson left the game late in the half after hurting his leg in a collision. He came back rather quickly so it doesn’t look too serious.

The Huskies are shooting OK. They’re rebounding OK. They’re playing OK defense. We’re expecting an OK second half.

BU is playing without guard Corey Lowe, the team’s second-leading scorer, and forward Valdas Sirutis, another starter. Both are injured.

- Neill

Waiting for UConn and Boston University to tip-off in Hartford.

– UConn is 40-12 in its history against Boston University but only three of those games have come since Jim Calhoun came to Storrs.

Wednesday’s game was the first between the schools since Nov. 17, 1997, a Preseason NIT game at Gampel Pavilion.

That night in Storrs Richard Hamilton led the Huskies with 29 points (and a shocking 8 steals). Kevin Freeman was 0-for-5 from the floor but did contribute 10 rebounds.

The two other notable items from that game. It was played using four quarters, an experiment the NCAA tried in early season games. Also, one of the officials from the game: Duke Edsall.

I’m pretty sure Duke Edsall, UConn football coach Randy Edsall’s brother, hasn’t officiated a UConn basketball game since.

– Calhoun is 40-7 against Boston-area schools while at UConn. The Braintree, Mass., native is 2-1 against BU (before Wednesday), 30-7 against Boston College, 1-0 against Harvard and 7-0 against Northeastern.

– More after the game…

- Neill

Had a chance to speak with Mark Meadows, the executive director of the PapaJohns.com Bowl this afternoon.

Meadows gave the Huskies plenty of praise but wouldn’t say his bowl is ready to extend them an invitation.

“Certainly we would be extremely happy to have UConn,” Meadows said. “I think there are three teams in play for our bowl game on one side: that’s UConn, South Florida and Rutgers.”

It would seem pretty likely that UConn is headed Birmingham for the PapaJohn’s and its Jan. 2 game if it beats South Florida Saturday. Then again, the size of traveling parties and a team’s history sometimes have more to do with bowl picks than number of wins.

UConn still might be destined for St. Petersburg after all. The Big East’s other bowl destinations (BCS, Gator, Meineke, International) all are just about out of play for the Huskies.

Either way, Meadows knows the Huskies’ 2009 story.

“I think they are compelling story nationally this year,” Meadows said. “They had a big win a couple weeks ago over Notre Dame and just the way they’ve played this year. I think they’ve been extremely competitive. I think they’re a play or two away from having a really great season.”

The SEC slot in Meadows’ game will likely be filled by South Carolina. But that’s still not official.

Meadows says he doesn’t plan on traveling anywhere _ including East Hartford _ this weekend, though that isn’t set in stone.

“At this point I’m not planning on being anywhere,” Meadows said. “When we get down to this point, the final weekend, it’s usually pretty hectic. Right now we’re not planning on traveling, however that could change.”

- Neill

OK, he might not be an actual saint (we’re checking).

Anyway, the Big East is hosting a live chat with Senior Associate Commissioner for Football Nick Carparelli on Thursday at 3 p.m.

Carparelli will take questions from fans regarding all Big East and college football-related matters in advance of the last week of the 2009 regular season.

You can go to BigEast.org for the chat.

- Neill

A few more notes from a long day at the Burton Family Football Complex and its neighbor to the north Gampel Pavilon:

– UConn coach Randy Edsall had plenty of praise for senior RB Andre Dixon. And the New Brunswick, N.J., native made it clear the feeling was mutual.

“Coach is like a coach, a father, a brother, all of that in one person,” Dixon said.

Edsall has given Dixon plenty of chances to succeed, especially after his DUI arrest one year ago. The now 23-year-old Dixon thought his career was over more than once.

“When I was getting into trouble, making some mistakes or whatever, I thought I jeopardized my career, definitely,” Dixon said.

And if Donald Brown hadn’t left early for the NFL, Dixon might have left the program on his own.

“That’s a question that continues to float,” Dixon said.

“It didn’t seem for a second that Donald was going to slow down at all,” Dixon said. “It probably would have been the best bet, if I wanted to continue to play football, to go somewhere else. But who knows?”

Now Dixon has a shot at joining Brown in the NFL.

“He’s going to graduate in December. He’s going to have an opportunity to play at the next level. He’s going to be playing in one of the all-star games,” Edsall said.

– WR Marcus Easley will play his final home game on Saturday. But because Easley’s football career didn’t begin until his sophomore year of college, the Bunnell High product thought for a second he had more eligibility.

“He was asking coach Sos (wide receivers coach Matt Cersosimo) ‘Are you sure I don’t have any more time left here? I didn’t play my first year,’ ” Edsall said. “He wants to come back. But when I saw him I said ‘Marcus, we’d love to have you back but you’re going have a chance to go on and do some bigger and better things.’ ”

– Scott Lutrus’ move to middle linebacker really doesn’t seem like that big a deal. He’s played there before and doesn’t seem too stressed about the switch.

“I’m sure coach (Todd) Orlando will be on me to make sure I get it right,” Lutrus said. “I’m not too worried.”

– It should be cold Saturday night at Rentschler Field and it might even snow. Is that a big advantage for the Huskies?

Maybe, but some of them (like perhaps all of the Bulls) haven’t played a game in the snow, either.

“I heard it might snow. That will be kind of interesting; I’ve never played a game in the snow before,” quarterback Zach Frazer said. “I’m sure it could be tough coming from one climate to another.”

– While doing a story on OT Mike Hicks for later this week, we had a chance to ask a number of the other players about Hicks. Frazer had a good answer.

“The first time I came in and saw Mike Hicks I said ‘Oh look, it’s Charlie Weis,’ ” Frazer said.

- Neill

The short version of UConn football coach Randy Edsall’s chat with the media Tuesday afternoon:

– UConn will honor 16 current players on Senior Day, as well as summer grad LB Matt Ashmead.

Among the 16 are four players who are leaving with eligibility remaining: OG Mathieu Olivier, LB Greg Robinson, WR Alex Molina and WR Kevin Poles.

Olivier will graduate and may continue his playing career at a Division I-AA or Division II school as a graduate student, the coach said.

– Olivier is listed as the starter at left guard, the spot he played last week in place of Erik Kuraczea.

“Matt will start,” Edsall said.

Kuraczea is battling a “lower leg” injury.

– Edsall is proud of all his seniors, but he singled out RB Andre Dixon.

“I am just so happy and thrilled for him,” Edsall said. “Where Andre came from to where he is today. This is why you coach. This is why you help young people.”

– Scott Lutrus, as expected, is listed as the starting middle linebacker.

Redshirt freshman Jory Johnson is the starting strongside backer.

– The weather forecast for Saturday calls for 30 degrees and a chance of flurries.

“That sounds good to me,” Edsall said.

Playing a team from Tampa is obviously a nice edge for the northern Huskies.

“But as I told our guys this morning, the weather isn’t going to win the game for us,” Edsall said.

– It looks like the PapaJohn’s or St. Pete bowl for the Huskies, but Edsall isn’t involved with the discussions yet.

“I’m not part of the bowl conversation in terms of who is looking at who,” Edsall said.

“I think any bowl is a good bowl to get to,” the coach added.

– The coaching staff gave the players most of Sunday off and will cut practice time slightly (5 minutes or so) this week in an effort to ease the emotional and physical strain they all face this time of year.

- Neill